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Published on Friday, March 13, 2015

Public records roundup – what survived, what didn’t

A big hurdle for bills occurred this week, cutoff for all bills in their house of origin. Bills failing to move out of their original house are now considered dead. Unfortunately, several of AWC’s public records priorities met this fate. Here’s a rundown of what’s still moving, and what we’ll have to try again for next year.

Bills that died:

AWC priority bills HB 1684 & SB 5533, concerning charges for electronic data under the public records act, died in their respective chambers. AWC is currently working with lawmakers to craft language for a budget proviso that would ask the State Auditor, over the 2015 interim, to develop an actual cost estimate that could be used by agencies for paper and electronic copies. The Auditor would be expected to issue his findings in a report to the Legislature no later than December 2015.

HB 1086, establishing a cost recovery mechanism for commercially driven public records requests, died in the House Appropriations Committee.

HB 1691 which would have redirected public records penalties to the State Archives failed to advance out of Committee and is dead.

Bills that survived cutoff:

HB 1431/SB 5395, modifying exemptions relating to real estate appraisals. HB 1431 is alive and has been referred to the Senate Government Operations & Security Committee. SB 5395 is also alive and has been referred to the House State Government Committee.

HB 1554/SB 5396, exempts information of guardians or family members of children enrolled in certain programs, including parks and recreation programs. HB 1554 passed off the House floor unanimously and will now move to the Senate for consideration. SB 5396 is in the House State Government Committee and had a public hearing on March 12.

HB 1189, concerning hours of availability for inspection and copying public records, passed the House and is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Government Operations & Security Committee on March 19 at 10 am.